The present invention relates generally to a battery connector and terminal therefor and more specifically to a torsion-coil style battery connector.
FIG. 7 is a perspective view illustrating a conventional battery connector terminal.
As shown in FIG. 7, the terminal is fabricated by stamping and bending a metal sheet, and includes a flat base 801, a pair of first spring portions 802 and 803 connected to one side of the base 801, and a second spring portion 804 connected to the free ends of the first spring portions 802 and 803 and bent so that the second spring portion 804 projects toward the front. The second spring portion 804 is connected to the first spring portions 802, 803 via interconnecting plate portion 806 which connects the free ends of the first spring portions 802 and 803 together. In the vicinity of the free end of the second spring portion 804, a contact portion 805 is formed which contacts an opposite-side terminal such as an electrode of a battery. By elastic deformation of the first spring portions 802, 803 and the second spring portion 804, the contact portion 805 is pressed against the battery terminal.
In this type of conventional terminal described above, larger portions of the first spring portions 802, 803 and the second spring portion 804 remain straight, and the curved portions thereof are short. The length of elastically deformable portions is insufficient, and thus flexibility is low, and the contact portion 805 cannot be displaced greatly towards the interconnecting plate portion (in the horizontal direction) when the contact portion 805 presses against the battery terminal. The second spring portion 804 acts as a cantilever where the top end serves as a supporting point and the lower end serves as a free end, when the contact portion 805 contacts the battery terminal, the contact portion 805 is displaced largely horizontally. At the same time, the contact portion is largely displaced vertically. Therefore, when the battery terminal is small vertically, like a thin battery which is used for a thin cellular phone, the contact portion 805 contacts the contact surface of the battery terminal, which causes a failure in electrical conduction or charging, damages the body of the equipment or device equipped with the opposite-side terminal, or damages the contact portion 805 itself. Additionally, even though the thickness of the terminal can be reduced sufficiently to accommodate a thin battery, a space becomes necessary for absorbing the aforementioned displacement amount of the contact portion in the vertical direction, which does not contribute to a thickness reduction of electronic equipment and device.